Slovakia: Regional elections a fiasco for Romani parties
Not one candidate from a Romani political party was seated in any of Slovakia’s regional councils after the first round of voting Saturday. Three Romani parties fielded 32 candidates in the race.
The largest number of candidates, 20, was fielded by the Romani Coalition Party (Strana romské koalice). Only one was sent out by the Romani Initiative of Slovakia (Romská iniciativa Slovenska), Jolana Saltielová, who won 61 votes in Bratislava Region, while the chair of the Slovak Romani Union Party (Strana romské unie na Slovensku), František Tanko, received 254 votes.
One Romani candidate makes it through
The only Romani candidate to make it through this year was Stanislav Vospálek, who did not run for a Romani party. He ran in the Spišská Nová Ves district for the coalition of Most – Híd, KDH, and the SDKÚ – DS.
The Romani Press Agency reports that Vospálek received 2 909 votes. Experts agree that Romani voters did not cast votes in unison on the basis of ethnicity.
Two Romani candidates running for governor in the Banská Bystrice region also experienced an electoral fiasco. Ladislav Fízik (ASV) won only 2 521 votes, while Emil Samko (KLS) won 1 346.
Low turnout at Luník IX
The elections were of no interest to Romani voters at the country’s largest Romani-inhabited housing estate, Luník IX in Košice. Of the 3 678 registered voters there, only 63 cast their ballots, or 1.71 %.
This is apparently the lowest turnout at the Romani-inhabited housing estate since the first free elections were held there. "Only those who are really convinced of the need to vote evidently turned out," said the chair of the electoral commission in the first district, Stanislav Takáč.
"It’s not amusing anymore, I don’t trust anyone, the politicians just make promises, it’s not like they would ever improve our part of town as we have been proposing from the start. They don’t respect our opinions. They come to see us, they make promises, and then they do nothing," said a middle-aged Romani man standing in front of the local authority there.
